


Of Monsters and Beasts: The Deal

by TriplePirouette



Series: Of Monsters and Beasts [2]
Category: Monsters Inc (2001), Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-13
Updated: 2014-09-13
Packaged: 2018-02-17 06:11:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2299373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriplePirouette/pseuds/TriplePirouette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A deal is stuck during a visit...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Monsters and Beasts: The Deal

Twice a month in the Gold household, Belle went around the entire house and shut and locked every window, blind, and curtain. With the magic back, pulsing through the tiny town, Gold knew about the rumors. They whispered that he was making more curses, that he was casting magical spells on his family, that he was cruel and evil and once again the Dark One.

He could only laugh. As much as he wanted to craft a few good curses, Belle would not let him do any such thing especially with the children in the house. No matter how he told her it would be safe she’d banished him to the little shed out back, or better to his shop, when he felt the need to dabble in magic. He was some kind of hybrid of the men he once was now, a man, surely, but with magic at his fingertips. It was only to his advantage to keep the town guessing.

No, they closed the shutters so that Claire’s imaginary friends could visit. That’s what he called them when she babbled about Mike and Kitty about town. After all, the town had easily accepted magic into their folds, but he didn’t think they’d be as quick to accept the blue and purple behemoth and his one-eyed friend.

The monsters in the closet came twice a month at Belle’s behest. Their discussion about it had been long and intense. Belle insisted that her daughter needed more friends and that it wasn’t a bad thing to have a very large, scary, protective monster care for their daughter. Though he put forth arguments of magic and townspeople, he couldn’t much argue with her. With each day the unrest around them grew. Time had only been moving three years, but the time for the war, well, that was quickly approaching.

Having a monster as a friend, even one without magic, couldn’t be a bad thing.

Gold strode toward his house, taking in the closed shutters and drawn curtains. The monsters weren’t due for a little while, but that didn’t matter. His Belle was always prepared, and after each visit he noticed she’d taken to opening fewer windows, exposing their privacy just a little less. She could feel the change in the air, the tense wait that had taken over their town, and she was just as afraid as he was.

With a slow trudge up the stairs and a quick jangle of keys, he was inside. He let his keys ring out a little clamor before setting them back on the hall table, a smile coming to his face at the sound of tiny feet running through the hall. Her voice came next. “Papa, Papa, Papa, papapapapapapapapapapapapa!” He bounced back as she ran into his legs, latching on and mumbling into his knee.

His hand found the crown of her head as he steadied himself with his cane, more a prop than anything for the town but useful for moments such as these. He leaned it against the wall and reached down, lifting her into his arms for a long and tight hug. “Hello, my darling!” She babbled incessantly at him. If he concentrated, he’d be able to make out some words and meanings, but he was more entranced with the feel of her in his arms.

He shifted her carefully to one hip, smoothing out her sundress and putting right her bangs. Her hair had just gotten long enough for one tiny ponytail at the back of her head, but a few wisps still fell in her face, too short to be held by anything other than a pigtail, and he brushed those back behind her ears with care. Belle rounded the corner, the baby in her arms gurgling happily. “Oh thank goodness you’re home!” Belle kissed him quickly on the cheek and held the bundled infant out for him to take.

He took Ryan in his free arm, carefully cradling his son and making a silly face at him. “Long day, love?”

Belle rolled her neck and shrugged her shoulders, “Nothing out of the usual, though Claire stuffed her rubber ducky down the drain in the tub again and I can’t fix it because Ryan does not want to be put down today and we have guests soon!”

Gold leaned over, dropping a kiss on her cheek and nuzzling her hair. Claire leaned over and kissed her, too, causing them both to laugh. “It will all be fine, dear.” He smiled lightly at her, but he could see the tension in her body. “Go take a few minutes to yourself. I have these two, and the clog in the tub can wait until tonight.”

Belle’s grateful smile slipped away quickly. “You’re going to talk to him tonight, aren’t you?”

Gold nodded, his face dark and serious. “Yes.”

“Good.” Belle puffed out a little air and forced a smile on her face.

Two hours later, at eight pm precisely, there was a knock on Claire’s closet door. “Come in, boys!” Belle called brightly, holding Claire’s hand. The four of them waited for the door to crack open. It was an unspoken rule that Gold and his wife had lived. The closet door could open to new realms, something about it was magic. When they weren’t expecting company, it was kept locked with a shiny new padlock. When they were expecting the boys, all four of them waited together, Belle ready to grab Claire and run, Rum with one sparkling purple handful of magic behind his back, ready to pass Ryan to Belle and defend them if anything other than the two monsters dared come through the door.

But it had been nearly six months now, and they’d never had a problem. It was why Rumpelstiltskin was preparing to make one of the most important deals of his life.

The door creaked open, the Golds reflexively held their children just a little tighter. A tiny green arm slipped through about waist level, waving. “Hi, uh, hold on one second. Acquisition forms…”

Claire slipped away from her mother, running to the door and grabbing the hand, tugging hard. “Mike Wazowski, Mike Wazowski!” She gave it one last yank and the round green monster popped through the door, rolling to the floor and taking Claire with him. She giggled riotously, hugging him for all she was worth.

He laughed lightly. “Hey Claire!” He patted her on the back, pushing himself to his feet and dusting off the bottom of his rotund body before helping her up as well. He blinked his one eye, smiling with wide, rounded teeth. “Belle, Rumpelstiltskin, very nice to see you again!” He bounced a little as he walked, something that Belle found amusing to no end. He walked right up to the Dark One, who was extinguishing his unneeded magic as Sully came in and shut the door behind him.

“Wow, the little guy is getting big!” Mike said, standing on his tip toes to look at young Ryan. The baby giggled and struck out, smacking Mike right in the very large eyeball. “Yup, and he’s gonna have a great arm on him, too.” Mike blinked furiously as Belle took the baby from her husband’s arms, handing him to his favorite monster.

“He’s no bigger than the last time you were here, Mike, though he has improved his aim,” Rumpelstiltskin laughed. He had one eye on the green monster that held his son, the other on the purple and blue big foot that cradled his daughter like cut crystal.

Belle looked at her husband, some of her fear slipping into her smile. Mike noticed it, but said nothing as he shied back from another flung baby arm. Rumpelstiltskin nodded and stepped back, letting his wife take the lead. “Claire,” she called, holding out her arms, “Come help Mama get your tea set ready, alright?”

Sully smiled, putting the girl down and giving her a push towards her mother. “Tea! Sounds great!”

Belle lifted her daughter to her hip, smiling at the big monster. “We should have just enough left of that… what was it? Oh yeah- the spoiled mayonnaise and cinders flavor- to last today, though you’ll need to bring more next time.”

Mike brightened, bouncing Ryan as he followed Belle from the room. “Oh, Mayonnaise and Cinders. I almost forgot we brought that here. I’ve been on a Parsnips and Snails kick lately, but Celia wants me to start drinking some organic something or other.”

Sully started to follow them out of the room, but Rum stepped in his way, a grim tightness to his face. “James, if you would stay back for a moment?”

The monster stepped back, watching as Rumpelstiltskin closed the bedroom door. Feeling the human’s tension, Sully had no choice but to allow the seriousness take over him as well. “This can’t be good, you used my first name.”

“I’m afraid it’s not,” Rumpelstiltskin said sadly. He stared at the monster, looking him over slowly. It made Sully’s fur stand on edge, but he didn’t move, didn’t speak, just waited. “You and I have spoken quite extensively about our worlds, Sully, and as much as it pains me to say this, I trust you.”

The monster looked at the man before him: there was pain, and fear, and the resignation of acknowledging something he didn’t want to have to face but also a burning deep within him, a darkness that Sully knew only another monster could see. They had talked at length. It was all well and good to come to visit Boo, but Sully found that Belle and Rumpelstiltskin, and their story of an enchanted forest and the curse, made them far more interesting than anything he could have dreamed of. He’d offered, more than once, to take them to Monster’s Incorporated after hours, to show them his world and introduce them to some of their more open minded friends, but they’d flatly refused.

“And I trust you, Rumpelstiltskin. But I have a feeling this is going to be a conversation about more than just that.” The monster carefully sat on the edge of the tiny pink and white bed, setting his tail over the corner.

Rumpelstiltskin looked down, joining the monster on the bed. “You’re right. What Belle and I need to know, what I really need to know, is how far you’d be willing to go?”

When the human looked up with his last words, Sully couldn’t quite quantify what he saw there. Desperation? Fear? Hate? All he knew was that the intensity of the stare took his breath away. The true gravity of the situation hit him then. He’d always known this man to be awe-inspiring, to be a man that many feared, but he also saw him with Boo, with little Ryan, and knew that underneath the bravado that he wore like armor he was a kind and caring soul that was protecting what was his. “How far would I be willing to go… for what?”

“Claire.” Rumpelstiltskin said simply, his lips a tight line. “Ryan.” He looked away, then looked back at the monster before him. “My family. I’m asking if you would help me protect my family.”

Sully couldn’t help but smile, “Of course I-”

Rumpelstiltskin held up his hand, his mood in no way buoyed by Sully’s relief. “Don’t. Don’t agree to this before you know what you’re getting into. This isn’t some bloodless political coup we’re talking about here. Regina and her minions are dangerous. Even without her, plenty of people around here want my head… literally. Plenty of people would want to… to hurt the things I love the most.” His head dropped, sad, for just a second before he looked up. “I’m asking you to keep that door active, because at any moment I might need to send them through. I’m asking you to kill, to KILL anyone who comes through that door that isn’t a part of our family. I’m asking you to protect them with your life, because I may not live through this.”

Sully’s jaw dropped. He couldn’t say anything, but he watched the man stand, pacing the floor before him. “I’m sorry to ask this, I really am. I can only protect them so much on my own, and she’s cunning, the damn Queen.” Rumpelstiltskin stopped, staring at the monster. “I have no right to ask this of you, or to assume you’d be even capable of such a thing. I know what it is to be judged for what you are and what you look like, but I can’t take that chance with them. I won’t be too proud to ask for help when it’s their life.”

He looked almost broken. The words didn’t come easy, Sully knew. Rumpelstiltskin was a proud man, a jealous man, a man who horded and protected what was his. For him to ask this… Even though Sully had only known him a short time, he knew how important this was.

Sully stood, looking the man in the eye. “Yes. Yes, I will protect them. Yes, I can protect them. And yes, I will kill for them.” Sully had never known a man or monster so honorable. He’d always thought Waternoose was that monster, but since his downfall he’d simply tried to be a monster for others to look up to. Rumpelstiltskin, this human that others called a monster, was indeed a being for Sully to aspire to be like.

Rumpelstiltskin swallowed thickly and nodded, trying desperately not to look as relieved as he felt. He held out his hand, waiting for the clawed paw to return the deal-making shake. “I suppose there are some specifics to iron out, but Claire will be getting impatient to see her Kitty.”

Sully smiled lightly, his hand dropping to his side. “Yeah, yeah, she would be.”

Rumpelstiltskin turned, but stopped with his hand on the door knob. “Belle thinks… Belle thinks that we’d only ever send Claire and Ryan. She thinks that we’d just have to… to let you babysit until things calm down.” Rumpelstiltskin bit his lip. “She’s far more optimistic than I am.”

“She doesn’t know that you don’t think you’ll live through this?” The monster couldn’t keep the wonder from his voice, the sadness out of his eyes.

“No,” Rumpelstiltskin said darkly, “And I don’t want her to know that. If I ever have to open that door,” he pointed, his hand shaking just a little bit, “She’s going through too, and it’s getting bolted from this side. Even if they lose me, I won’t let them lose her, too.”

Sully has nothing left to say. He’d spent nearly his entire adult life scaring people, but he’d never, never seen someone so frightened before. He’s saved by Mike’s voice drifting down the hall way. “Sully? Rumple? You guys still in there? Hey! Nope, watch the horn there!”

Rumpelstiltskin opened the door to see Mike coming back down the hall, trailed by Claire who was trying to press a princess crown into the flesh around Mike’s right horn. “Looka Papa!”

Rumpelstiltskin and Sully laughed. The green monster had been tied in a feather boa, his crown hanging from his horn, pink lipstick smeared around his lips, and a bright circle of blue eyeshadow ringed his one eye. The former imp had to hold onto the door frame he laughed so hard, while the monster behind him fell to the floor with a house rattling crash. Claire ran and jumped on Sully, brightly shouting, “Kitty pretty!” as she started to attach bows into his fur that she’d pulled from the pocked in her sundress. She giggled, petting the fur around his face. “Pretty Kitty!”

It was enough to break the tension, and Rumpelstiltskin felt like he could breathe again. These monsters had somehow become a part of their family, their fairytale family in this ordinary world, and with Sully’s declaration, he felt like maybe, maybe his children had a fighting chance. 


End file.
